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This is living



I started this post last week when Matt and I were in Philadelphia on a grown-ups' overnight celebrating a good friend's significant birthday. We splurged on a fun, bright, funky hotel in an awesome location with a happy-hour wine reception in the lobby (don't get me started on how much I love Kimpton hotels). I was happy in our room on a sunny Friday. Our view included cobblestone roads, courtyards, and historic buildings. The window sill was wide enough for me to sit on and write. The setting was idyllic. But modern technology failed me (or perhaps I failed it) -- I couldn't figure out how to post my pictures of the room and view (still can't) and soon it was time to go outside and live in the world I was hoping to record in this blog. So, fine. We went on one of the loveliest walks of my life, came back to meet our friends for happy hour, and then enjoyed dinner at the birthday boy's choice of restaurant. We headed home the next morning after a great night's sleep and a breakfast of coffee and pastries the like of which are not to be found in suburban Delaware. (Or probably anywhere in Delaware.) It was great.

So. Now it's a week later and all I had written was the title. I thought to change it, but then decided it should stay. Last weekend in Philadelphia I felt alive -- really alive -- in full color, in a way that was special, out of the ordinary. But it took a lot of resources to get there. We had to line up care for our boys (Matt's parents), we had to take time off from work (no biggie, especially these days), we had to pay for transportation and the beautiful but wholly artificial hotel experience. We are lucky to have the resources to do all this now and again and I fully intend to take these getaways when we can. It feels great to breathe and be cared for in a peaceful space designed, created, and maintained by others. But between escapes, why not really live at home, at work, in regular life?

That is my point today. Today is a day in my regular life and I am alive and can choose to be really alive. Here's an example.

The picture above I took a few weeks ago when we woke up to find the kitten had dragged toilet paper from the bathroom into and through the kitchen. The cat in the picture is not the guilty party, but happened to be available for the photo shoot. The second picture is the kitten. We love this kitten. It's not enough to say in italics that we love this kitten -- we are in love with this kitten. We adopted him the day after we heard from Will's school that they were kicking us out. We needed something happy to focus on, to distract us, to comfort us. We were at Pet Smart anyway getting food for our fish and other cat and they were holding an adoption fair. We met this black, snuggly, fluffy thing there and Will was the first to fall in love. We filled out the papers and he was delivered to our home a week later.
Henry Smaug
  The cat is like a living stuffed animal. He lets us pick him up and hold him like a baby. He sleeps in our laps. He hangs out with us. Of course he is also playful, as the toilet paper picture shows. We loved waking up to that mess. It was a joy to discover. It made us laugh. He's spontaneous, crazy, and super cute. He and the other cat had a slow start together (she doesn't tend to be fond of other animals), but now they are close friends. They chase each other around the house and play fight. We think they enjoy each other and we enjoy watching them. We forget ourselves and our worries and our anger and our frustration when we watch them play. We feel peace and warmth when Henry curls up on us. We feel needed to have a baby animal in our house, someone who requires special care. We feel accepted to be up to the task of giving him a good home and providing a playmate for our other pet. (I could also get into the carpet scratching and the waking us up at 6:00 each morning, but let me stick to the fun stuff for now...) Henry -- really, pets in general -- is today's example of how I can discover full-color living in regular life. I'm recording this to remind myself to take note of and seek out or even create others examples.

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